Diversity of the voices: students convince in the multilingual speaking competition!

Diversity of the voices: students convince in the multilingual speaking competition!

as part of the multilingual speech competition "Say it Multi!" Pupils from North, East and South Tyrol and Vorarlberg showed extraordinary achievements. A total of 15 schools were represented on March 12, 2025 in Innsbruck. Moderator David Steiner led through the event that was transferred live to ORF ON. 14 different languages were presented in the competition, including Hungarian, Ukrainian, Italian and Serbian. Particularly noteworthy was the first participation of a speech in Ladin, a language from South Tyrol. The motto "Moving!" emphasized the flexibility in thinking and the importance of multilingualism, while the pupils addressed topics such as democracy and human rights, as tirol.orf reported.

A total of 161 young talents competed in 32 languages and faced the audience and the jury in several ORF state studios, including Innsbruck and Graz. They spoke about central social issues such as women's rights, climate protection and racism. The competition not only promoted linguistic diversity, but also the participation of young people in important discourses. The finalists were 80 percent girls who convinced with their multilingual skills. Any speech was a demonstration of the Mut to deal with important questions of the time, as der.ORF.at . The final event with the announcement of the award winners will take place on May 16 in the Vienna City Hall.

The participants had previously qualified through a preliminary round in which they took their speeches independently. Roberta Hofer from ORF Tirol was responsible for the evaluation of the services as the jury chair and was impressed by the quality of the speeches that were "written with the heart". Educational manager Werner Mayr emphasized the importance of multilingualism in a various society.